Sermon Title: Being in Control is Over-rated
Sermon Text: Luke 22:42
Sermon Date:
Hurricane Katrina made her presence known with shrieking, 145-mph winds, and
slammed into the Gulf Coast just outside New Orleans on Monday, submerging entire
neighborhoods up to their roofs, swamping Mississippi's beachfront and blowing out windows
in hospitals, hotels and high-rises. The night before landfall, the Mayor of New Orleans
was on television saying that this was the
One. The One we had all feared. And it nearly
was. He even described it, on Sunday night, as a catastrophe of biblical proportions.
Even though the storm just missed
It is very easy to be in despair. When you have no shelter from the storm, despair
overwhelms you. The Psalmist cries out "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up
to my neck. Answer me, O Lord, out of the goodness of your love. I sink in the miry
depths, where there is no foothold. In your great mercy turn to us." It's very easy
to lose hope.
I know that you have seen the news coverage. You probably saw that poor African
American man standing with his son. His name was Harvey Jackson. He was the one in the
yellow jersey that they showed over and over on CNN.
Harvey talked about losing his wife. "She's
gone. I hold on to her hand as tight as I could. I tried. But, she told me, 'You can't
hold me...take care of the kids and the grand kids.'"
The correspondent asked him, "Where are you going?"
As he walked away sobbing, he answered, "We have no where. I'm lost. That's all I
had. That's all I had."
We are all a disaster away from having all the hope knocked out of us and being
left alone in this world. You can tell me all day how Job had his fortune restored and was
given a new wife, new land, and new children. But that doesn't return those whom he lost.
You can declare from the roof tops that the preacher in Ecclesiastes who said,
"Vanity. All is Vanity," ends his book with the injunction to put your faith in
God. That still leaves this world a very cold and lonely place when you lose those you
love. (www.esermons.com)
Today we are in the fourth week of a sermon series on Max Lucado’s “Come
Thirsty,” the basis for our small group ministry that begins the week of September
25. In Max’s notes for today’s
sermon, he didn’t know that we would be using it right after a devastating hurricane. He didn’t even know Katrina was coming. Still this week’s message is clear and I would
imagine every southern governor would agree. Being
in control is over-rated
No one felt in control in the south this past week.
Millions are homeless. Thousands put
their trust in the roof of the Super Dome only to discover that even it was shaky. On Wednesday morning, the governor of Louisiana
told us that while plans were being made, nothing was firm.
The city of New Orleans is being evacuated. Who
knows when electricity, water or phone service will be repaired. Who knows when the waters will recede. The mayor of New Orleans finally lost his cool on
the radio saying essentially that “no one cares about us.” This has been an unbelievable catastrophe, yet, I
hope that while many believe they have been forsaken by their government and world, I pray
that they can hold onto the belief that God has not abandoned them. Max Lucado would say that….
No struggle will come your way
apart from God’s purpose, God’s presence or God’s
permission.
Purpose – God has a purpose for everything that you encounter, even when we cannot understand what it might be. In Genesis 50, Joseph said to his brothers who sold him into slavery, “God turned into good what you meant for evil.” Stuff happens in life yet we can learn from the stuff. If we are honest with each other and ourselves, we will admit that we learn more and grow stronger from the adversity we encounter than the easy times. So I take this to mean that we can find meaning in difficult times.
I have been watching all of the U.S. Open that I can over this past week. There is an incredible story unfolding in Flushing Meadow, NY. American James Blake has just made it farther in this tennis tournament than every before. I’ve rooted for James for a while now but this year he is the story of the tournament. Last year he cracked a vertebrae in his neck, contracted shingles that paralyzed his face and lost his father. A year ago he couldn’t return three balls without getting dizzy and yesterday he beat the #2 seed of the tournament. The crowd has gone wild. In an interview last night he said, “Maybe you have to go through the rain to appreciate the sun.”
God wants us to learn in our times of trouble.
No struggle
will come your way apart from God’s Presence.
I
absolutely believe that God is present in everything we endure or celebrate. When we celebrate 170 years of ministry, God is
with us. When we wonder about the vision and
future of the church, God is with us. When we
wonder whether family and friends have survived Hurricane Katrina’s wrath, God is
with us. God never leaves us alone. Think of it this way:
if Jesus didn’t feel abandoned in the Garden of Gethesame, we should not feel
abandoned in what we will endure. Matthew
28:20 reminds us of this: “Be sure of
this: I am with you always, even to the end of
the age.”
No struggle will come your way apart from
God’s Permission
– I am going to admit this out loud
for all to hear. I have trouble grasping this
one.
I have no trouble at all believing that there is something to be learned in difficult times or that God is always with us during good times and bad. I have felt God’s presence during difficult times in my life. Yet, I find it hard to totally grasp that everything that happens has God’s permission. It feels like we are saying a drunk driver has permission to drive drunk and kill two children just off the plane from a family vacation. It feels like we are saying a child dies because God said it was okay for a stepmother to abuse her. I struggle with understanding this concept of God granting permission. I struggle because in situations like the hurricane, it will always be the poor and disenfranchised that are affected the most. And scripture tells me that God loves those that cannot help themselves. That God cares deeply for the poor, widowed and orphaned. That God wants us to care about them too.
But I don’t think that is what Max
Lucado means when he
talks about God
granting permission. What Max says is that God
is glorified when we accept his lordship through our tough times.
When I think about stories like these I
realize that I am trying to think logically. And
evil isn’t logical. Nature isn’t
logical. No matter how hard I try, logic just
doesn’t fit here. Even in a world with a
loving God in control, bad things happen.
I
just said that if Jesus didn’t feel abandoned in the Garden, neither should we. However, Jesus did feel abandoned on the cross when
he said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) That was the human side of Jesus. And when we think of Jesus being sinless, we can
assume that asking God why we have been abandoned is not a sin. In fact, God can handle our feelings,
feelings of loss and abandonment. God can
handle all our feelings. God can handle my
questions on this subject of permission.
Maybe God does grant permission for babies to
die at the hands of parents. Maybe God does
allow drunk drivers to get in cars and devastate families.
Maybe God does allow hurricanes to wreak havoc on vast communities and allow
tsunamis to wipe out 200,000 people. Maybe God
does allow terrorists to get in planes and fly them into large buildings in large cities. Maybe God does.
And maybe someday God will sit me down and say, “remember that sermon you did
on permission? Well, Peg, you got it all
wrong. This is how it is: I know more than you do. I see farther than you can. Trust me.”
So as I have sorted through the events of
this past week, this is what I believe. I do
believe that God is in control. However as we
saw in the Garden of Eden, God allows us free will, along with the rights and consequences
of our decisions. I also believe that even in
nature God allows stuff to happen. Remember
that Katrina did not hit New Orleans head on. It
could have been worse. For God to control each
and everything in our lives would render us like pawns on a chess board only to be moved
when God decided to move us, and that isn’t the relationship God wants with us. It wouldn’t be love, it would be a kind of
slavery. And God wants us our love to be
freely given.
So even if I have questions, I know beyond a
shadow of a doubt that God is glorified when we turn to God during tough times. When the governor of Louisiana can ask for prayer
during their worst time, believing it matters, it glorifies God. It says that even if God allowed this terrible
thing to happen, we will still lean on God’s mercy and goodness.
When survivors in the south can say
“Thank you, Jesus” when drinking water comes after five long, hot days, you know
it is heartfelt and the giver of all good things is there, in the midst of the
devastation, sitting among those feeling lost and forgotten.
I believe in God’s presence in our
lives. I believe that God has a purpose for
each of us – to serve God by loving others, in addition to helping us find purpose in
the challenges life brings. And by accepting
Jesus as my savior and claiming God as the lord of my life, I’m giving God permission
to act in my life. It means that regardless of
what happens to me or to you, God is in this thing with us.
We do not need to worry about being in control.
Here is what we need to remember in all
things: God didn’t leave Jesus alone on that cross and God will not allow us to left
alone either. Remembering that pulls us
through hard times and helps us to help others.
Let me with close with a poem John Oxenham
wrote this in 1913: “God’s
Handwriting”
“He writes in characters too grand
For our short sight to understand;
We catch but broken strokes, and try
To fathom all the mystery
Of withered hopes, of death, of life,
The endless war, the useless strife,
But there, with larger, clearer sight,
We shall see this – His way was
right.”
God of the mountains and the seas, the awesome power of nature can be both a wonder as
well as a source of tragedy. We cry out to you in this time of great need to the people
affected by Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath.
Almighty and everlasting God, comfort the sad and strength those who suffer: Let the
prayers of your children who are in any trouble rise to you. We lift up to you the peoples
of the Gulf Coast area. For those who have lost loved ones, grant your peace; for those
who seek shelter and food, grant your comfort; for those facing illness, grant your
healing; for those whose lives have been shattered, grant your strength.
God of wisdom and strength, guide the hands of those who provide emergency relief. We
entrust to you those who care for the bereaved, those with the gift of healing, those who
carry the burdens of moving debris, and those who distribute much needed supplies.
Hopeless as it may seem at times, their work is very important. Give them the endurance
that is needed to continue in their good works.
God of all consolation, in the midst of things we do not understand, tragedy too great to
comprehend, and grieving too heavy to bear, grant your peace. This is a time when we
welcome your Word of hope born into our world. May that hope burn in our hearts. Amen.
(www.esermons.com)